By Holly D’Addio, Courier Sports
Writer:
For the Valley Regional
High School football
team, getting the win against Nonnewaug of Middlebury on Oct. 3 was three times
as exhilarating. Not only were the Warriors playing in their first home game of
the 2008 season, in new uniforms no less, but the game was played in front of a
monster crowd on Spirit Night, and the win was the team’s first this season.
Valley’s offense and defense worked well in not allowing Nonnewaug to score
until the fourth quarter, ultimately beating the visitors by a crushing 41-6
score.
“It was a good game
because we hadn’t seen much option football before and option football is so
much responsibility football,” said Coach Tim King. “We have young defensive
ends and young outside linebackers so we were a little worried they’d want to
jump the dive, give up the option. They’ve done a great job working without a
football—we didn’t use a football for most of the practices this week just so
we could do the responsibility and that worked great.”
The first quarter
started with Valley jumping on the scoreboard quickly. After several attempts
to run the ball for the touchdown by his teammates, quarterback and captain
Logan Whaley took the ball himself for a one-yard sneak over the line to put
the Warriors up on top 6-0 with 6:15 left in the quarter.
“Logan did a real nice job reading, and
finally, for once, he started running with the ball,” said King. “We’ve told
him all along we’d rather him have a three-yard gain than an incomplete pass so
if you’ve got to tuck it and run it and it’s open, I’d rather have him tuck it
and run it and get us a couple yards so Logan managed the game very well tonight.”
Nonnewaug fought
hard to answer back, gaining its first down quickly. The Chiefs received their
second down despite a hard tackle by Valley’s Oliver Gregan on the sideline.
Nonnewaug got as close as the 25-yard line on 3rd-and-3 before its quarterback
threw an incomplete pass broken up by Valley’s Alex Bozenhard.
“The kids did a
really good job on defense—we were a little worried on the first drive and we
had to make some adjustments on that first drive,” said King. “They ate up that
whole first quarter.”
The second quarter
led off with Valley in possession of the ball and a quick second touchdown by
senior Nadrian Campbell on a long 60-yard run to put the Warriors up 14-0 after
a successful two-point play.
Nonnewaug easily
turned the ball over to Valley, which was
followed by a called face mask penalty on Valley after Whaley threw a
perfect pass to Campbell
with 7:26 left in the second quarter for a flag on the play.
“I’m a little upset
with the penalties,” said King. “We’ve got to get out of that habit—it’s
killing us.”
More than halfway
through the second half, Valley was faced with 1st-and-goal with the ball taken
inside by senior Jon Corriveau. After a fumble and recovery by the Warriors on
3rd-and-goal, Valley scored its third touchdown of the night after a five-yard
pass by Whaley to sophomore Mitchell King who was waiting in the end zone with
5:57 left for a 20-0 lead.
Nonnewaug pushed the
ball to the 23-yard line before fumbling. Valley was in a 1st-and-10 position
when Whaley handed the ball off to Campbell
for the down. With 3rd-and-goal, Gregan scored the Warriors’ next touchdown on
a one-yard rush with 3:42 left in the first half to put Valley up 27-0 after a
field goal by Jack Duggan.
Valley continued to
dominate the game by stopping the Chiefs in their tracks and getting the punt
return with 1:39 remaining in the half. This allowed for a 54-yard rush by
senior captain Rich Mau for the fifth touchdown by Valley with 1:26 remaining
to put Valley up 34-0 at halftime.
“Offensively, we
knew the linemen were going to come out in a 3-5 look and we basically ran
about four plays in practice—those same four plays all week,” said King. “Sure
enough, they came out in it and we ran them to a tee. Once those started
going—a little play action—it helped them open up the pass game.”
The third quarter
began with a punt from Nonnewaug and Mau carrying the ball for 20 yards before
being stopped by the Chiefs’ defense. Campbell
ran for the first down, followed by Whaley’s completed pass to Gregan at the
25-yard line for a second down. Whaley set up the next throw and lofted the
ball 20 yards to King for the touchdown with 10:45 left in the quarter.
Valley’s lead was now 41-0 after Duggan’s successful kick.
The remainder of the
game saw solid defense from Valley, led by Campbell, Gregan, Leo Belval, Dom
Melillo, Duggan, and Chas Powers. Despite Nonnewaug’s recovery of two Valley
fumbles in the second half, the Warrior defensive line never let the Chiefs’
offense get too far past the 50-yard line before forcing them to hand over the
ball.
The fourth quarter
saw Nonnewaug having more success with gaining yards and scoring its first
touchdown with 7:57 left in the game on a flip from the quarterback. The game
ended with Valley attempting to get its first down after sophomore John
Finkeldey ran the return for 30 yards. Valley won the game with a score of
41-6.
“It was nice to get
our first win in the first home game, coming out with the new uniforms and
all,” said King. “That was nice to have and they earned that tonight.”
Game at a Glance
Oct. 3: Valley 41,
Nonnewaug 6
Key Stats
• Logan Whaley: 6-for-9 for 107 yards, 2
touchdowns, 1 rushing touchdown
• Mitchell King: 2
catches for 25 yards, 2 touchdowns
• Rich Mau: 5 rushes
for 82 yards, touchdown
• Nadrian Campbell:
7 rushes for 128 yards, touchdown, pass reception for 28 yards
• Oliver Gregan: 2
rushes for 3 yards, touchdown
Pictured: Senior
Nadrian Campbell, who had one of
Valley’s six touchdowns, carries the ball past a Nonnewaug defender in the
Warriors’ 41-6 win.
Photo by Nancy Dionne